


Crashing Into You

by Spinyflower



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-04-12 00:02:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19120438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spinyflower/pseuds/Spinyflower
Summary: After Fairy Tail disbanded Lucy was left on her own. She soon found herself captured by a dark guild with no hope for help insight. Little did she know that help would come crashing in, in the form of Gildarts Clive.





	1. What's your name?

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Fairy Tail  
> 

Deep in the Waas Forest in the basement of a secluded cottage sat a lone figure huddled in the corner of a cell. Loud noises could be heard coming from the floor above of heavy footsteps, sliding furniture, booming laughter, and the occasional scream of pain. Each sound made the figure flinch and curl in tighter on itself. Grimy hands covered matted hair over their ears trying to block out the sounds.

A door opened, filling the hall with light leading to the cell, heavy footsteps pounded down the short hall as the jailer made his way towards the occupied cell. The jailer stopped in front of the cell and lifted his lamp to better see into the back of it, where the natural light doesnt reach. “Hey!” The jailer called out loudly to the figure. At the sound of his voice the figure flinched before lifting it’s head in answer to the jailers call.

“Get over here to the door, now!”

The figure stood on shaking legs and slowly walked to the entrance of the cell where the guard stood impatiently.

“Hmm, being down here hasn't helped your looks much, but hopefully has broken your fighting spirit.” The jailer moved the light over dingy almost gray filthy hair, hallowed cheeks, and the empty brown eyes of what appeared to be young woman.

“Boss wants you cleaned up for him. The others have been a little too rough with the other playthings, and he wants something special for himself.” He sneered as he connected chains to the manacles that decorated her writs and ankles. He roughly pulled the chains and said “Don’t start nothing, cuz I wont hesitate to really hurt you” and began walking down the hall. The woman followed but had a hard time keeping up as she has been underfed in the time spent in the cell, which has made her weak. As she lagged behind, the jailer would give the chain a hard pull, digging the manacle into her wrists and causing her to stumble. He yanked her through the hall, up some stairs, and out a cellar door that opened up from the ground.

The woman tried to keep up but when they had reached the outside she took a deep breath of the fresh air and lifted her face to the night sky. She was looking at the stars for the first time in over a month. Her eyes filled with tears that she had thought had dried up long ago, before she could wipe them from her face the jailer pulled hard on the chains making her fall to her knees. She had quickly learned not to fight back when it came to the people who held her prisoners, as they were very fond of administering punishment when they saw fit. She had put up a fight when she had first arrived and now had scars marring her body that would forever remind her of their taste for handing out punishments. As quickly as her weak body would allow, she got up from the ground and continued to follow the jailer. He was leading her to a shed that was built near the edge of the clearing which was made for the cottage.

The pair stopped in front of the shed where a haggard looking woman was pouring water into a metal basin. “You’ve got twenty minutes Lottie, you better clean her up good too. Bara’s wanting her.” The jailer said as he attached the chains he was holding to a loop on the wall of the shed and walked away towards the back door of the cottage. The older woman looked to the younger. She started to help the young woman remove the ragged cloth that covered her, the young woman looked to the night sky again as she felt the rags being peeled from her body. Once Lottie had thrown the rags down, she saw the scars that marked the young woman's body, all at different stages of healing. The worst was a brand the size of her palm on the young woman's hip. It looked like it had gotten infected judging by the way it healed, making the mark dark and jagged. There was dried blood on her wrists and ankles from where the manacles rubbed and cut, as well as on her inner thighs. Lottie chewed on her lip, hating to see all the things that were done to this poor woman.

The young woman willed away the tears that threatened to spill, she could feel Lottie's eyes on her. How she looked didn’t matter anymore, nothing did. “You must have really made them mad for them to have branded you like that.” The woman said nothing but continued to stare at the stars. Lottie shook her head and said “You better get in quick girl, we’re going to need all the time we’re given.” The young woman did as she was told and sat in the tepid water while Lottie picked up her soap and cloth. As Lottie worked on her hair and the smell of jasmine filled her nose, the woman’s mind wandered to happier times in her home. Thoughts of steam filling her bathroom as she soaked in her tub full of bubbles after a long job. No, that’s gone, she thought as Lottie rinsed her hair and began scrubbing her down. She hung her head as she pushed any happy memories away. They wouldn't help her, no one was coming to save her. No one even knew where she was, nor did anyone care. Everyone had left her.

She let Lottie move her around like a doll, did whatever she was told. The water that had started out as clear, soon turned a milky gray from the mixture of soap and grime.

“I never would have known you had such beautiful blonde hair under all that filth” Lottie said as she guided the woman from the tub and began drying her off, Lottie could see the emptiness of this woman, suddenly the back door to the cottage opened as the jailer began making his way toward the pair “Don’t fight it girl, if you prefer life to death just do as your bid.”

“I don’t know that I do prefer life anymore.” the young woman said quietly as she looked to the sky once more as though looking for comfort in the stars. It could be the last time she ever saw them or anything else for that matter. Lottie wrapped her in a very thin silky wrap that wouldn't be affected by her chains. She looked at the young woman then and said “ What’s your name girl?”

After a short time the young woman finally brought her eyes from the stars, and turned her head to finally looked the woman in the eyes

“Lucy,” it was barely a whisper “my name is Lucy Heartfilia.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Fairy Tail  
> I'm re posting what has already been posted but there has been a lot of editing! My awesome brother has helped me change up a few things and make it flow better! Thank you to everyone who has liked this story so far!

Gildarts Clive sat at the bar of a small inn were he had rented a room in the small village of Silene. He was nursing a whiskey, neat, patiently waiting. Gildarts had been away from Fairy Tail for almost a year, traveling and taking jobs in smaller areas. He’s always worked alone, his magic made it hard to stay with anyone or in the same area for too long. He also enjoyed helping out the people of the small towns that couldn’t always afford to post jobs to the main guilds of Fiore, but could have big problems with beasts or rising dark guilds. Town just like this one. He had been passing through another village and had started hearing rumors of people going missing. He began asking around, and found out that the village of Silene was having the most issues out of the surrounding area. Gildarts decided to look into the issue, which is what brought him here, to this particular inn, waiting on a man that has been sitting at a table with a group of others, playing poker for a couple of hours and getting drunk. This was a man of interest to Gildarts, as a lead to the dark guild known as Black Kraken, the guild in which Gildarts was looking into for the disappearances.

An hour passed and the dark mage, having lost all his jewel in the poker game, finally got up and staggered to the door. Gildarts took that as a sign of it being time to pay his tab and put on his cloak. He left what little warmth the inn provided as he stepped out into the cool night. His plan was to follow his mark and gather information on the guild, pull out and go back to the inn in order to formulate a strategy. Once his plan is formed, he would pass it along to the local Rune Knights in order for them to follow up behind him and secure the area. But that all relied on this drunk man to provide him with what he needed. Gildarts knew that Black Kraken was in the area, he just hasn’t been able to pinpoint where.

The drunk stumbled up the road swaying and singing to himself. Gildarts followed him along, keeping to the edge of the road should he need to hide himself quickly. They walked for a bit down the road, away from the village and toward the forest. Gildarts kept a watchful eye on the drunk, as he stumbled to one of the trees and rested his arms on it. At first Gildarts thought that the man might be sick, but then he noticed the way the drunk was running his hand along the trunk of the tree as if he was looking for something.

“~Found you~” the man said quietly to himself in a singsong voice as he staggered past the tree and into some shrubs. Gildarts quietly went up to the tree the man had been groping and looked at the trunk. Only about three feet off the ground, and on the side facing north, there was a rough looking brand of a kraken burned into the trunk. After inspecting the tree, he looked up and noticed his mark was getting too far ahead, clearly there’s a hidden trail they will be following and he didn’t want to lose this lead.

The drunk, unknowingly followed by Gildarts, was leading through a winding trail deeper into the wood by the brands of the kraken found on trees. They had passed a large rock which had a rough carving instead of the brand, Gildarts looked down at it to make sure it was the same marking as the trees, but when he looked up the drunk was gone, as if he vanished into thin air. Gildarts looked in all directions with not a single hint of the man nearby, he didn’t sense that any magic had been used, so how could he have disappeared?

Gildarts took a few steps forward through a thicket of bushes, searching for the man when he suddenly sensed magic. Looking around for the source, he noticed a large clearing with a modest sized cottage sat directly in the middle that was not there just moments ago. As he surveyed the area, he saw unwitting drunken guide stumbling up the path to the front door of the cottage. “Well, they must have a decent illusion mage in their ranks”, Gildarts never even sensed the illusions barrier until he walked through it. Pretty clever, almost impressive even, but now it was time to start gathering information and details of the area.

He stayed in the shadows of the wood and walked the perimeter of the clearing, checking for traps or guards. He had made it all the way to the back of the cottage finding nothing and no one except what appeared to be a lone shed near the edge of the wood. This guild really was careless to solely rely on a single illusion spell to guard them regardless of how immpressive it may be, especially tonight, sice judging by the sounds coming from the cottage it seemed as though they were having quite a party, and no doubt consuming alcohol, leaving them that much more vulnerable.

There was a sudden clamor to his right causing him turn and investigate. The sound had come from the shed that he had noticed earlier, Gildarts crept nearer, keeping to the shadows in order to see what had caused the sudden noise. What he did not expect to see was two women in chains near a metal tub. They appeared to be of different ages, the older helping the noticeably more frail younger woman undress and get into the tub, her chains rattling against the sides of the tub, causing the sound that had alerted him earlier. As the younger woman sat in the tub, he could see in the dim lighting of a single lantern, numerous marks marring the young woman's backside from her shoulders to the backs of her knees. As the older woman began washing the woman in the tub, Gildarts began thinking of different ways he could go about taking this guild down, without causing too much disruption for the town. Clearly, from what he has seen outside the shed, they were prone to torturing their captives. How many did they have right now, he wondered. What he knew for sure was that based on the state of the woman in the tub, he couldn’t wait long. The clanking of chains and the women speaking brought him back to look at the front side of the shed to see what would happen next with these women.

The older woman helped the younger, apparently blonde now that her hair had been washed, out of the tub and began drying her off. The now blonde woman turned where her front was now facing Gildarts direction. Instead of his normal reaction to seeing a naked woman, he found himself growing angry. This young woman bore more scars than him, all different shapes and sizes, but the worst of them all was the ugly brand on her hip of a kraken, just like the trail markers that lead him there. Marked like a slave. As the older woman wrapped some material around the woman, he heard her ask the young woman her name. As the blonde lowered her chained hands something caught his eye. There, on her right hand, was a pink Fairy Tail emblem. He stared in disbelief, finally bringing himself to look to the young womans face as she said in a whisper “Lucy, my name is Lucy Heartfilia.”

No. This cant be right, that can’t be Cana’s friend Lucy, though now seeing her face he couldn’t deny it, the blonde hair, brown eyes and that pink emblem on her hand. There was no denying it. How did she end up here? Where the fuck was Natsu? As more question's formed in his mind his anger grew into fury. His mind racing, he didn’t hear the back door of the cottage open as the jailer came out to get Lucy. He heard the chains rattle again, bringing him back to his senses. He peered around the corner and watched as the man pulled on Lucy’s chains, leading her back up to the main building. There was no waiting now, he had to act and it needed to be tonight. When Lucy and her overseer disappeared inside, he walked around to the front of the shed, unintentionally scaring the daylights out of the poor old woman.

“Please, don’t hurt me!” She begged as she cowered, afraid of this man she had never seen. Gildarts raised his hands in an attempt to calm her with a neautral gesture.

“I won’t hurt you, I’m here to help. But I also need your help” he said as he bent down and used his magic to shatter the chains around her ankles, as well as what bound her to the shed. She looked at him, wide eyed with tears welling up. “ I need you to tell me everything you know about this guild.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Fairy Tail  
> I'm re posting what has already been posted but there has been a lot of editing! My awesome brother has helped me change up a few things and make it flow better! Thank you to everyone who has liked this story so far!

Lucy was led to the back door of the cottage and jerked through the entrance by the chains held by the guard. The interior of the cottage mainly appeared to consist of one large open common room, with a kitchen and bar taking up the whole of one wall, and tables and chairs which filled out the floor space. On the opposite side of the room from the bar sat a throne like chair away from the others with a pair of doors behind it leading to closed off rooms. The man pulling her chains was leading Lucy to one of those doors as the rest of the guild was drinking and carrying on, calling out lewd comments, and making obscene gestures toward her as they walked by. He opened the door and pulled her inside aggressively, grabbed her and unlocked the manacles on her wrists and ankles, then walked out the door warning her not to bother trying to escape, and that Bara would be in soon.

Lucy looked around the room, but not seeing much that could help her. She noticed that there was a large bed that took up most of the room with a narrow window just above it that looked to be her only chance of escape. The door opened again, Lucy turned her head quickly to see the guild master Bara walk in. He was tall and lithe, not massive like Laxus or Gajeel, but still noticeably muscular, his long dark green hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Lucy bowed her head and stared at her hands in front of her, Bara’s dark yellow eyes traveled down her body, inspecting her from head to toe. He walked forward and grabbed her upper arm and pushed, forcing her to sit on the bed. He never said a word as he started to unbutton his shirt. Lucy could feel his eyes on her still, as she bowed her head keeping her eyes on her lap wishing everything to end. She heard the soft sound of his shirt hitting the floor, his dirty boots her view of the floor as he moved to stand in front of her.

He lifted his hand and ran it gently through her hair, the attempted caress making her flinch more severely than any threat of beating or torture had. He paused briefly before he ran his hand through her hair again, grabbed a handful and pulled roughly jerking her head back to face him as he forcefully pushed his lips to hers in a painful kiss.

Noticing that Bara’s eyes were closed as he continued to bruise her lips, Lucy swiftly brought her knee up with as much strength and force as she could muster feeling her bony knee smash into his groin. Bara quickly released his grip of her hair with a grunt and dropped to his knees with a hand grasping at the bed to help himself stay upright. Quickly Lucy grabbed the back of his head, sending his face down as she brought her knee up for another crippling blow. Lucy’s knee made contact with Bara’s nose with a sickening crunch, his eyes rolled back as he fell backward colliding with the wall by the door. Seeing him dazed with blood pouring down his face, Lucy scrambled to the window above the bed in hopes of an escape. She could hear crashing and yelling in the main room, the other men must have overheard the brawl she’d had with their guild master and were coming to apprehend her. Her hands were shaking relentlessly, causing her to have a hard time unlatching the lock. Finally she managed to get the window open and was desperately trying to lift herself up when a firm set of hands grabbed her by the waist, pulling her away from her last hope of freedom.

Bara had grabbed her from behind and threw her down onto the bed. As she kicked at him and weakly flailed her arms, he pinned her down as he straddled her waist. His blood covered face contorted, partially from the blood and gruesomely broken nose, partially in rage. There was a loud thump on the door that Bara didn’t seem to notice as he towered over. Looking down at her while wiping the blood running from his nose with one hand, the other wrapped around her small neck.

“You little bitch, guess you still had some fight left in you after all. No matter.” he said as he brought his bloody hand down to her neck and started to squeeze. Lucy thrashed, scratching at his arms and kicked wildly as the air left her lungs. Once the edges of her world began turning black she gave up fighting. This was the end to her torment, her only hope for escape, and she welcomed it now.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lottie had given Gildarts as much information as she could, which wasn’t much. She had overheard a few things here and there but for the most part was kept as a simple maid. When she was captured she thought herself lucky to be too old to be wanted by the men, but that feeling soon passed as she had borne witness to some of the terrible things that these men had done to other captured women. She also had the duty of making some of the women presentable for Bara, just like she had done that night for Lucy. One thing she did know was that tonight was some sort of celebration, of what she wasn’t sure. But since the guild was celebrating, almost all members were congregated in the main room of the cottage now. Gildarts watched the back door of the cottage as Lottie spoke, when she finished he very gently raised his hand and laid it on her shoulder, looked her in the eye and said “ I know that I have just freed you from your enslavement, but I must ask that you please not leave yet. Hide yourself in the wood, I’ll whistle when it’s clear. From what you’ve told me, I may need your help when all is done.” Lottie just looked at him silently for a moment, then slowly nodded. He removed his hand from her shoulder and turned to start toward the cottage, but quickly stopped and turned back to Lottie. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a portable lacrima. “I need you to contact the Rune Knights and get them here as soon as p[ossible. Tell them Gildarts Clive found Black Kracken in Silene.”

With shaking hands, Lottie took the small device and nodded again. She watched as Gildarts walked away from her and headed toward the back door of the cottage. As he got closer to the building she quickly realized she needed to go hide before anything else happened, and ran into the edge of the wood clutching the device to her chest.

Gildarts glanced back at the shed and watched as Lottie ran for the wood. Good, she was hidden now. He took a deep breath as he moved his head from side to side, and stretched his arms limbering up for the fight to come. He walked up to the door channeling his magic and kicked the door in. The door flew off its hinges, incapacitating several members of the dark guild with it. The closest mages reacted first, hopping up and running at the crash mage. Vines came up from the floor and wrapped around his boots as a plant mage tried to pin him in place, while another mage dropped to the shadows. Not having much maneuverability, Gildarts slammed his fist into the floor causing a shock wave so powerful it shredded the vines holding him, it also knocked the shadow mage out of the shadows and most of the guild were thrown into walls and knocked out, either by flying furniture or the force of the collision.

When Gildarts stood he looked around the room, seeing most of the guild taken out and smirked. Sometimes it payed off to be this powerful. Not seeing the guild master or Lucy, he looked around and started for the doors at the end of the building. Before he could take ten steps he was slammed forward by a hit to his back. He felt searing heat and quickly realized his cloak was on fire. He let himself fall to the ground and rolled to put out the flames. He rolled again releasing the cloak, leaving it to lay on the ground, then vaulted himself back onto his feet. He turned around in time to block the incoming attacks from a fire mage that was behind the bar, apparently having avoided the shock wave.

“I’ve beaten tougher flames than yours, weakling. You couldn’t burn the hair off your own balls with that weak shit.” The fire mages face turned red as he flew at Gildarts, throwing fire fueled punches left and right. Gildarts easily evaded the blows and slammed his elbow into the fire mages back, sending him crashing into the floor, splintering the wood. Seeing the fire mage no longer moving, and no one else appeared able to put up a fight, Gildarts rushed to the doors behind the throne. He heard some muffled sounds coming from one of them and reached for the knob, locked. He brought his foot up, channeling his magic as he kicked the door.

The door exploded into tiny pieces as Gildarts crashed into the room. Seeing the man on top of Lucy had him seeing red. He rushed forward, channeling his magic into his fist as it connected with the guild masters jaw. The hit sent Bara flying into a wall, but the wall didn’t stop him, the hit was so hard  that the wall gave way, sending the man into the yard outside the building, and he didn’t stop until his back hit a tree at the edge of the clearing.

Gildarts quickly ran to were Lucy lay on the bed. Blood covered her face and spattered her freshly washed blonde hair as she lay motionless. He picked up her limp form, desperately calling her name. “Lucy! C’mon girl. Fuck! Lucy…”


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy walked down a dirt path in a lush green wood, feeling light and happier than she had in years. She took a deep breath of the cool forest air and coughed making her throat burn, she needed water. Feeling as though she was choking she grew frantic and started to jog down the path. She could hear the sound of waves grow closer as she ran with one hand held to her throat, she turned a bend on the forest trail and saw the shores of a lake. Lucy rushed to the edge of the water not caring about getting her boots wet as she waded in and dropped to her knees. The water was cool and crystal clear, Lucy cupped her hands and brought the water to her mouth. The cool liquid eased the burning in her throat but not enough. she dropped her face to the water and gulped down mouthfuls. She drank until the fire subsided, she felt as though she couldn’t possibly hold anymore water in her small frame.

Lucy lifted her head from the water breathing rapidly, with water running down her face and soaking into her shirt. Her discomfort being now relieved she took in her surroundings. The lake she stumbled upon was very secluded with trees surrounding the waters edge as far as the eye could see. __Aquarius would love to be called out in this water,__ Lucy thought as she reached for her keys on her hip. She brought out Aquarius’s key and put it in the water.

“Open gate of the water bearer! Aquarius!” Lucy's voice cracked as the water of the lake rose and swirled then fell back to the surface turning into calming waves once again. Nothing had happened, there was no Aquarius there complaining about whatever displeases her at the time. In the distance thunder rumbled as Lucy, without taking the key from the water, hoarsely called out again “Open gate of the water bearer! Aquarius!” The water started to churn again but quickly settled back down. The sky started to darken with storm clouds as Lucy frantically once again called out for Aquarius, pain searing down her throat as nothing happened, not even a single drop of water stirred. Wide eyed, Lucy stared at the water as her vision began to blur with tears.  
Lucy didn’t understand what was happening, why was Aquarius not responding? She lifted the key from the water and hugged it to her chest as she cried, what had happened to her friend? As she cradled the key something felt off, the key somehow felt smaller. Lucy brought her clenched hands down from her chest and opened them. Inside was Aquarius’s key, but it was not as it should be, it was broken, shattered and unusable, the only piece that remained was the bow that bore Aquarius’ symbol.

As Lucy stared at the broken key not understanding what had happened, a loud peel of thunder clapped right above her. She raised her stricken face to the sky and her body stilled in terror. Floating above the lake was Cube, the base for the demons of Tartaros. Mist rolled on over the lake as Lucy tried to reconcile what was happening. Tartaros was eliminated, the Celestial Spirit King defeated Mard Geer. She had called him, Lucy shook her head tears still falling, but how could she have called him? That had never been done before, the king didn’t have a key. The remnants of Aquarius’s key warmed in Lucys’s hand as the memories flooded back to her. She had broken Aquarius’s key to call the Spirit King. She sacrificed her best friend, the spirit she has had the longest, to save everyone. Then everyone she ever cared for left her behind.

The fog continued to roll in blocking her vision, as Lucy stood still clutching the broken key, she began to panic. She could no longer see the lake or the wood, just thick grey mist everywhere. She tried to call out but searing pain once again shot down her throat causing her to fall to her knees, tears pricking the corner of her eyes from the pain. Her breath rattled with every exhalation, black began filling her vision as she lay down closing her eyes as the world grew dark and slowly consumed her.

 

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~

 

 

The nurse for the local clinic in Silene walked into room two for her nightly rounds, the scene she walked into was the same for the last three days. The patient lay in the bed still sleeping having never woken up since she arrived, and the man that brought her in lay back in the recliner provided in the room. His head cocked back, mouth gaping as he snored away. He had refused to leave the young woman's side as she lay there unresponsive. The nurses nearly had to chase him out of the room with a broom at one point to make him get a proper meal and shower. The nurse went about her duties, checking the patients vital signs and IV bags, trying not to make too much noise.

Gildarts awoke to the noise of squeaky shoes walking about the room, bringing his head forward he quickly wiped the drool from his chin as moved his head from side to side trying to work out the kink in his neck. The nurse looked to him apologetically as she made to leave, Gildarts just lifted his hand and gave her a small wave with a smile to assure her everything was fine. He turned to look toward the bed, Lucy lay in the same spot for the last three days, the only change being that she seemed to have a nightmare the night before. She had made small whimpering sounds and jerked around in the bed, unknowingly she kicked Gildarts in the face, which taught him not to rest his head at the foot of the bed after that.

Gildarts looked at her now and her brow was furrowed, she looked to be in pain. He looked to her IV bags and the levels were fine she still had pain meds in her system. Her legs started to twitch under the blankets, and her hands curled into fists. Gildarts moved his chair closer to the head of the bed as he started to see tears fall down Lucy’s cheeks. He slowly reached for her hand, almost afraid to touch her, she looked so frail from her imprisonment.

Before his hand came into contact with hers it withdrew from his line of sight, surprised by the movement Gildarts looked to were the hand went and found big brown eyes staring at him warily. Gildarts eyes grew wide as the realization that Lucy was awake hit him, he stood slowly and reached for the call button above her head, Lucy flinched when he moved above her. Gildarts felt pained to see her react that way because of him but knew that this young woman had been through unspeakable things at the hands of depraved men. Gildarts sat back in his chair before meeting her eyes again. They both stared at one another for a few minutes, Gildarts opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could come out the doctor walked into the room.

He began telling her the extent of her injuries, numerous minor cuts and bruises, bruised ribs, and severely bruised trachea and larynx, which would make it painful to talk. Lucy reached for her neck as the doctor told her they would be keeping her for observation for a few more days and try to help manage her pain. “You’re lucky this man saved you when he did, your attacker very nearly crushed your wind pipe.” Lucy looked to Gildarts as the doctor left the room, tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him until the hand she had placed on her neck extended  towards him. Gildarts reached with his own hand and gently grabbed hers, she then squeezed it tight twice never looking away from his eyes, he took that as her saying thank you.

Another nurse walked into the room with a small pink tub and some towels draped over her arm. “I wanted to get you washed up now that your awake” she said to Lucy as she placed the tub and towels on the bedside table. The nurse then looked to Gildarts “You need to go and get yourself washed up as well, and eat something”, Gildarts recoiled from the look the nurse gave him, he knew she meant well, he had spent most of his time at the clinic waiting for Lucy to wake up. Gildarts smiled and nodded standing from his place in the chair, as he made to leave he looked back at Lucy to say good-bye, the terrified look on her face as she watched him head to the door squeezed his heart.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. I promise” Gildarts said as he gave her a wink, “Oh I almost forgot, I got these back for you” he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out her key ring. Her eyes widened again and filled with tears as she gave him a small smile. He nodded toward her and left the room closing  the door behind him.

“That man refused to leave your side the whole time you were unconscious. I nearly had to knock him out in an attempt to get him to go eat in order to keep himself healthy.” Lucy watched the nurse get her things ready as she talked about Gildarts, she smiled a little at the thought of this little nurse knocking out the great Gildarts. Had he really camped out in her room and watched over her the whole time? Lucy was grateful to him for having saved her life when she had already given up, she started feeling very anxious once he moved to leave but the promise to return had calmed her. Lucy’s eyelids grew heavy as the nurse gently scrubbed the dried blood out of her hair. The nurses’ fussing kept her awake until it was done, when her hair was dried and fingernails scraped she was finally able to lay back and allow sleep to consume her once more, her hands holding tightly onto her key ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another thank you, to my brother for again editing this story for me and being a huge supporter


End file.
